A decorated cop who served as commanding officer of the NYPD’s elite Scuba team has filed suit against the city and the police department for $105 million.
John Harkins, a police lieutenant who headed the team — considered one of the top rescue diving units in the nation — says he was seriously injured after he fell from a ladder on the NYPD’s Harbor Patrol Launch #8, according to a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court.
Launch #8 is the police department’s specially-equipped Scuba boat that operates from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The suit says Harkins’ injuries, which were sustained in the July 2009 accident, still affect him today, but it does not detail the physical ailments he suffered. Harkins and his attorney did not return calls for comment.
But colleagues say that before the mishap, Harkins played a high-profile role on the city’s waterways.
He took to the water for countless rescues and emergencies – including the search after the fatal TWA Flight 800 crash off eastern Long Island in July 1996, colleagues say.
In the immediate aftermath of 9-11, Harkins and his Scuba unit turned their focus to anti-terror initiatives after fears arose about the possibility of mines, sabotage, and other potential threats to large commercial sea-going vessels and ferries.
The dark, roiling waters of the Hudson and East Rivers pose serious challenges for police Scuba divers involved in rescues or on missions to recover bodies or retrieve evidence, said Mike Carew, a retired NYPD detective who spent 10 years on the team.
“The currents are pulling you – they’re treacherous. It’s like hanging on to a flagpole in the wind,” Carew said.
When the police boat is underway and waves are hitting the bow as officers don their Scuba gear en-route to a call, injuries can occur, Carew said.
“You’re responding to emergencies when every second counts, on narrow catwalks at high speeds, bouncing around while you’re trying to suit up,” Carew said.
“Everything rocking and rolling,” he said.
mmaddux@nypost.com